Now Only $15? Who Would Ever Buy a Mouse with a Ball Again?
Written: Mar 01 '02 (Updated Mar 02 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Works fine for lefties, no more cleaning mouse balls or pads.
Cons: No extra thumb buttons.
The Bottom Line: This mouse will become the new low-end standard.
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| grimjack2's Full Review: Microsoft Wheel Optical (D66-00020-5PK) Mouse |
So why write the one millionth review of a Microsoft mouse? Apparently, before I started on Epinions, Hardware review members hits by were worth $.03 so everyone who normally doesn’t write hardware reviews wrote about their mouse. Times have changed, and one would think that there isn’t much to say about a computer mouse. Everyone has one, and generally speaking, to most people they are all the same. However, hopefully I can say something different here.
The Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical is currently the lowest end Microsoft mouse that doesn’t use a ball to determine movement. When the first opticals appeared, they cost around $70 and worked with little problems. As predicted, like the wheels, the optical sensor has almost become standard for all mice. My prediction is that within two years, you won’t be able to get a mouse with a rubber ball ever again.
Now that these only cost $24.99 brand new as of this year, and with a $10 rebate, who would ever buy a mouse with a ball again?
The advantage of the optical sensor is obvious right away. I am currently working in a very dusty office and it is just general maintenance for everyone to clean the insides of their mouse about once a month. I don’t think mouse pads are really a bad thing, and they don’t take up a lot of room. Still, most people with the optical mice are still using them because they like the built in gel wrist pads. Or they are just using them out of habit.
So aside from no ball, you also don’t have any moving parts that are spun by the ball that could also go bad. And aside from not having to worry about cleaning and wiping the ball periodically, the mice will work on almost any surface. Optical mice don’t seem to have any drawbacks that I can find. Especially now that they don’t cost any more than the non-optical ones.
The optics work by an infrared light that points down and notices differences in the visual surface. It will work on any desk, pad, book, your leg, whatever, unlike a ball based mouse which desires a flat coarse surface. The optical mice instructions warn not to use on a mirrored surface, although I haven’t tried this. I have seen one mouse pad that really screwed up this mouse. It was a psychedelic pad full of swirling colors. The cursor just jumped around within an one inch square no matter how much you moved the mouse. I intend to keep that mouse pad to eventually play jokes on people as more clients start using these mice.
If this kind of information interests anyone, I’ve read in another review that the LED laser mechanism is the same as the ones in Logitech mice. They are both produced by the same company, Agilent. More interesting to me is that according to the box, the Microsoft Intellieye captures at 6000 frames per second, which is very high. The earliest ones only captured at 2000 frames per second.
Of great importance to video game players is the fact that you really want to use the mouse’s USB port, not the PS-2 one! Even thought the mouse works easily with the traditional PS-2 port, the PS-2 port is in itself a slower design than even the serial connection that used to be standard. The PS-2 port only updates at 40 times per second, and with game frame rates surpassing many monitor refresh rates, this will make a difference. I think the USB can work at over 120 times per second, but am certain that it is more than 40. If you want to do an experiment and see the difference, load up any first person shooter, and use the mouse to turn, and then try holding an arrow key down. You will notice how much smoother the keyboard lets you turn. You can do the same test with the mouse using either the PS-2 or USB connections. It is much smoother, and makes a difference when playing a first person shooter.
In order to install the mouse, I just unplugged the old PS-2 mouse while the machine was on and plugged this one in. No problems at all. It worked right away. I initially thought that this would be a stupid thing to do, since just a few years ago, plugging something into a PS-2 port would usually crash the computer.
However, even though it worked, I still wanted to install the software. The mouse worked fine as a standard PS-2 mouse, but I wanted it to work as a USB device, and I know that the Microsoft drivers and software give you extra options that are nice.
If I have anything to complain about with the mouse, it is the Intellipoint software installation. In order to install the Intellipoint software, you have to reboot the machine twice. The first time is to do something before it copies any files. This is probably to remove any other drivers like Logitech’s mouse drivers. After it has rebooted, it will then actually start to do the install. Of course when this is done, the first thing it does is insist that you reboot again.
This was slightly annoying, but still not as bad as the registration process. When done copying a small amount of files, it asks if I want to register online. I figured why not, but then it was insisting that I sign up for some sort of Microsoft passport that I didn’t want to do. I’m sure there could be a way to register online without having to use their passport software, but Microsoft likes to force these things upon us.
The software is nothing too special, but very nice anyway. It is very easy graphically to see which button they are talking about. Depending on your mouse, it actually has a different image showing you all the buttons. You then can select what each button will do from a very lengthy list. I don’t know anyone who is going to program their third button to do something like open up the find file box, or undo, but selecting an extra button to be “back” or “tab” when in Explorer can save you from having to use the keyboard or jumping up to the buttons.
With the software, you can also assign specific button controls just for specific software. For instance, the third button can represent ‘back’ just when in explorer, and ‘redo’ just when in MS Word.
The nicest feature in the software is the ‘Hide Pointer when Typing’ option. Not all programs automatically hide the pointer when you start to type, and because I’m used to it in Word, I often have to move the mouse quickly to read the text I’m typing underneath.
The most annoying would be the snap to default button in a dialogue box. This could be nice sometimes, but when deleting multiple items it always goes to the default button instead of the one you just chose. This often made me click the wrong item not realizing that the pointer had quickly jumped.
The software also gives you the ability to set your orientation. This is for people who hold the mouse at a different angle rather than at a right angle from the monitor. There is also an option to ‘click lock’, similar to a ‘shift lock’ on the keyboard. When turned on, clicking the mouse locks it as if it were being held down until you click it again.
You also can control how many lines will be scrolled each time you turn the wheel. The default is three lines, which is probably best. I had set my wheel to six lines at home, which was great for Excel and Word, but it cause me problems in Netscape. New with Intellipoint is the ability to scroll one screen at a time, and to have accelerated scrolling the faster you scroll the wheel.
Unlike the more expensive wheel mouse, this will work in either the left or right hand without any problems. This mouse doesn’t have the thumb buttons that the more expensive mice have. I don’t like the arched mice, but I wouldn’t mind having at least one more button on this mouse.
Another minor complaint I have is that I wish the bright red light could be turned off sometimes. Not the light underneath the mouse, but as a design feature there is a LED light in the back of the mouse. Whether my computer is on or off, the light is lit. I know the mouse is still receiving power (that’s why new BIOS allow you to turn on the machine by pressing a key), but you would think you could. I would like to be able to turn off the lights since my computer is near my TV. When the lights are off and I’m watching a movie the mouse light is brighter than you’d think. Perhaps newer versions of the software might let me turn it off.
Helpful Tip: Not many people realize that the wheel can be used in conjunction with the keyboard to perform helpful tricks. Hold the shift key down, and the wheel works as forward and back when in Explorer. Hold the Control key down and it will change the zoom level. Try it right now, but don’t try the back feature until you’ve rated my review!
For $15 this mouse is easily the lowest end that should ever be used with any machine. I recommend it with no reservations, and suggest that you install it on the USB port, not the PS-2 port.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 15
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Epinions.com ID:
grimjack2
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Location: San Rafael, CA, Marin County
Reviews written: 181
Trusted by: 124 members
About Me:
Film is my favorite art form. I live a life of constant amelioration.
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